What the Liberal Democrats are saying they will do for women

In the lead up to the general election on December 12th, we will be detailing what each of the main political parties are promising to do for women. Next up, the Liberal Democrats party.

Of-course every promise made by a political party is important and can have an impact on the lives of women everyone so we're not going to detail everything - that's what the manifestos and tv debates are for. Our aim is simple - to identify those promises which call for action to be taken specifically for women so you know where each political party stands when it comes to the women's rights and problems women face.

We're also not endorsing any particular party. We just want to make sure that you have the tools to make an informed decision. Because it's important. Because it's your future.

So to begin with, taken from the manifesto, here is what the Liberal Democrats are promising to do for women:

Maternity:

To begin with, the Liberal Democrats say they want to "transform perinatal mental health support for those who are pregnant, new mothers and those who have experienced miscarriage or stillbirth, and help them get early care when needed."

For new mothers, they want to ensure every one "gets a dedicated maternal postnatal appointment as well as introducing other measures to tackle under-diagnosis of maternal physical and mental health problems." By also "investing further in services during pregnancy and the first two years of a child’s life", they hope to reduce "Adverse Childhood Experiences".

To help new parents, the party promises to "offer free, high-quality childcare for every child aged two to four and children aged between nine and 24 months where their parents or guardians are in work: 35 hours a week, 48 weeks a year." They also want to "provide public health services, including maternity services, to people from the moment they arrive in the UK."

Health:

The party manifesto says they want to "address the scandal of women with learning disabilities dying an average 20 years younger" by "setting a national target for reducing this gap" and "will ensure people with learning disabilities can access screening, prevention, health and care services fairly."

The party seems to be committed to decriminalising abortion across the UK "while retaining the existing 24-week limit" and legislating "for access to abortion facilities within Northern Ireland." They also want to "enforce safe zones around abortion clinics, make intimidation or harassment of abortion service users and staff outside clinics, or on common transport routes to these services, illegal."

Jo Swinson's party also says it wants to "fund abortion clinics to provide their services free of charge to service users regardless of nationality or residency."

Justice:

To help protect against revenge porn, identity fraud and "threats and incitement to violence on social media", the Lib Dems say they want to "create a new Online Crime Agency".

To help prevent violence against women and girls, domestic abuse and to support survivors, the Liberal Democrats say they want to do a number of things including, "expanding the number of refuges and rape crisis centres to meet demand", "giving local authorities the duty and funding to provide accommodation and support for survivors of abuse", "establishing a national rape crisis helpline" and "ensuring access to special measures for survivors in all courts and preventing direct cross-examination of survivors by their abusers."

If they win, the party also wants to revolutionise divorce in the country through a number of changes including "a right to no-fault divorce", "removing the spousal veto" and "enabling the Church of England and Church in Wales to conduct same-sex marriages." They also want to introduce legal recognition of humanist marriages.

The party says they want to make "complete reform of the Gender Recognition Act to remove the requirement for medical reports, scrap the fee and recognise non-binary gender identities." Alongside this they want to "introduce an ‘X’ gender option on passports and extend equality law to cover gender identity and expression" and "ensure accurate population data on sexual orientation and gender identity by including a question on LGBT+ status within the 2021 Census."

The party wants to "end period poverty by removing VAT on sanitary products and providing them for free" in a number of places including schools. They also want to "scrap the so-called ‘Pink Tax’" thereby "ending the gender price gap." Their manifesto says they would like to "require schools to introduce gender-neutral uniform policies and break down outdated perceptions of gender appropriateness of certain subjects."

Work:

The Liberal Democrats say they want to "continue the drive for diversity in business leadership, pushing for at least 40 percent of board members being women in FTSE 350 companies" and "improve diversity in public appointments by setting ambitious targets" and "require reporting against progress with explanations when targets are not met." The party has a plan to "require organisations to publish parental leave and pay policies."

Jo Swinson's party says it also wants to "extend the Equality Act to all large companies with more than 250 employees, requiring them to monitor and publish data on gender, BAME, disability, and LGBT+ employment levels and pay gaps." They want to "develop a free, comprehensive unconscious bias training toolkit and make the provision of unconscious bias training to all members of staff a condition of the receipt of public funds."

Foreign affairs:

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The party says they are firm in their desire to spend "0.7 per cent of Gross National Income on aid, prioritising development that both helps the poorest and ties in with our strategic international objectives on gender equality" and others including climate change, human rights and conflict prevention. They also want to "offer asylum to people fleeing the risk of violence because of their sexual orientation or gender identification".

The manifesto sets out the idea that they want to "pursue a foreign agenda with gender equality at its heart, focusing on: the transformation of the position of women through economic inclusion, education and training; ensuring the lives of women and girls are not ignored in favour of trade or regional alliances; working to extend reproductive rights and end female genital mutilation; and ending sexual violence in conflict zones."

Source: https://www.libdems.org.uk/plan